A by-invitation group blog for busy authors of SFR, Futuristic, or Paranormal romances in which at least one protagonist is an alien, or of alien ancestry.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Gaia's Zits -- or Of Lice and Men

Suppose we live on a sentient being?

It's not a new idea. There's James Lovelock's and William Golding's Gaia Theory (Earth as a single organism), and books by Asimov, Orson Scott Card, the Helliconia trilogy, and many more. That doesn't mean that "it" cannot be "done" again.

We've all spoken of "Mother Earth", or "Mother Nature" but, I wonder, would a planet be male or female or hermaphrodite or a barren neuter?

The Earth breathes. It breaks out. Its skin crawls and wrinkles and shifts. It has warm flashes and cold spells. Frozen, liquid filled, life bearing comets might or might not be compared to spermatozoa... should I compare planets to giant clams in the oceans? A star's life cycle might be compared to that of the mythical phoenix.

Before the eruption, I was developing a thought about the arrogance of mankind, not merely politicians at Kyoto or Copenhagen, but of all of us to think that we have changed or could change the climate. It is true that a sufficient overpopulation of fleas can kill a dog. I accept that. But, I think we're more of the order of lice.

I've no idea if a host's acne outbreak is disastrous for headlice, but volcanic eruptions are potentially very serious for humans.

In Europe it is feared that the eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull will set off one of the Earth's most dangerous volcano systems: Katla, and perhaps Hekla. It sounds counter intuitive, but if the weight of a glacier keeps an icy lid on a volcano, and that glacier is melted, then there could be a chain reaction.

"Eyjafjallajokull has blown three times in the past thousand years," Dr McGarvie toldThe Times, "in 920AD, in 1612 and between 1821 and 1823. Each time it set off Katla." The likelihood of Katla blowing could become clear "in a few weeks or a few months", he said.

MountHekla is one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes. It was known to islanders as the “Gateway to Hell” – with good reason. When it erupted in 1159 BCE the effects were felt hundreds of miles away. In Scotland the whole of the west coast was devastated. A sulphuric cloud of ash and acid rain fell on the land, a tsunami raced across the sea and the sun was hidden for years.

Maybelifewill end in December of 2012! This cycle could go different ways for us, but either way, there's not a lot we can do about it. We cannot stop volcanoes from erupting.

Apparently, the volcanic cloud over Europe is too high to be seen from the ground at least from southern Britain, and the white clouds of it as seen from the air are quite pretty. The problem for aviation, apart from visibility, is the glass in the clouds. Glass is what can melt in the extra heat of an engine, then solidify again. However, it is now possible to fly below the cloud and around the periphery, and the cloud will thin as it spreads.

The high level, and very white volcanic ash-and-glass clouds could reflect heat away from Earth.... (by the way, one can now buy sunscreen in the form of a face powder!) in which case, "global warming" will be mitigated.

Or, the subsequent eruptions could be violent enough to jolt the Earth off her current axis, in which case, the North Pole will shift (if it hasn't already). Or, the subsequent eruptions could cause "insta-melt" of a lot more than the glacier in which Eyjafjallajoekull is set. Eyjafjallajoekull has four vents, I'm told, and it erupted through a glacier which may have caused larger grit lumps and a greater volume of steam than might otherwise have been the case. If the next round --if there is a next round-- causes a great deal of insta-melt, there could be tsunamis and flooding.

Maybe Mother Nature will wash the lice out of her hair. Was Noah's flood related to the Icelandic volcanoes? It's interesting to reflect that an Eyjafjallajoekull eruption has been know to last for two years, and that 5.33 million years ago, the Mediterranean sea is thought to have filled within a mere two years. Like a storm drain. And 9,500 years ago, a small flood created the Black Sea. Was that global warming? Or an Eyjafjallajoekull effect.

Just to digress a little more, next winter --or the one after that-- could be cold enough to freeze the Mississippi.

"Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted in 1783.... The winter of 1784 was also one of the longest and coldest on record in North America. New England reported a record stretch of below-zero temperatures and New Jersey reported record snow accumulation. The Mississippi River also reportedly froze in New Orleans."(news.yahoo)

On the other hand, if global flooding and famine and cooling are (or may be) coming, are our priorities as science fiction, alien romance, and Romance writers in the right place?

a complex entity involving the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.

FictionA number of works of fiction use the Gaia hypothesis as a central part of the plot. In two of his science fiction novels, Foundation's Edge (1982) and Foundation and Earth (1984), Isaac Asimov describes the planet Gaia as one on which all things, living and inanimate, are taking part in a planetary consciousness to an appropriate measure. In Asimov's story Gaia strives for an even greater superorganism that it calls Galaxia, and that comprises the whole galaxy.

The disruption caused by the ash cloud brings to mind the much more devastating effects of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa (in Indonesia). Average global temperatures fell as much as 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit and didn't completely return to normal until 1888. The sky was darkened for years.

Which makes me think of the still more cataclysmic disaster in the backstory of S. M. Stirling's PESHAWAR LANCERS. In the late 19th century of that alternate history, a comet or small asteroid passed close enough to Earth to cause a global darkening that plunged the world into a winter lasting several years. By the time the climate returned to normal, large areas of the planet had been nearly depopulated, the few survivors reverting to savagery, while those who lived in or escaped to more temperate regions suffered major technological setbacks. The novel takes place a little over 100 years after these events. It's my favorite of Stirling's books.

Back to volcanoes, I can imagine a series of eruptions on a Krakatoa scale having a catastrophic, long-term effect on the climate; however, it seems unlikely that any number or severity of volcanic events could affect the Earth's rotation.

I've been searching about head lice, suddenly I arrived to this post. Very true. Thanks to this post I now have an idea on how to deal with dominant people. I enjoyed reading, though I have nothing to deal with this.